Revolutionary Conservative Caucus

The Revolutionary Conservative Caucus was a small, right-wing pressure group which attempted to introduce a new radicalism into British conservatism.

File:Stuart Millson c1991.jpg

Stuart Millson, co-founder

Foundation

It was founded in November 1992 by Stuart Millson, an officer of the Western Goals Institute, and Jonathan Bowden; members were said to include Mark Cotterill and Steve Brady formerly of the National Front and Derek Turner, editor of Right Now! magazine. Millson's close friend from the Conservative Monday Club, Gregory Lauder-Frost, acknowledged that he was a "supporter" in a letter published in one of their journals.

Influence

The RCC met some limited success in its short existence. Tribune reported in March 1993 that "We have received further evidence of organised Far-Right infiltration into the Conservative Party. A leaflet from a group styling itself the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus appeals to activists to join a Tory organisation like no other". Sir Norman Fowler attacked the RCC, stating in the Sunday Express: "These people are not remotely typical of mainstream Conservatives", and Jerry Hayes, Conservative Party MP was quoted in the same newspaper as saying "They are a grim bunch". James Glyn Ford MEP went even further by announcing at the 1993 Labour Party Conference: "The Tories have a far-Right tendency....I have passed details of the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus to Special Branch". However the Conservative MP Rupert Allason was quoted in Searchlight magazine as saying "If they are against Maastricht, they can't be bad."

Left-wing journalist Martin Kettle wrote of the RCC: "The real danger of racism in British politics today does not come from fascist groupuscules, still less from the Italian example, but from the Tory Right, for whom the race card may offer a means of regaining the political initiative amid the party's current incoherence." Marxist journalist Francis Wheen followed that up by saying "The Revolutionary Conservative Caucus is beginning its long trek into the foothills of the Conservative Party". The Sunday Mirror (June 1994) rather surprisingly said "We are interested in the Caucus and its work."

Journal

In its lifetime, the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus published a black and white A4-sized magazine entitled The Revolutionary Conservative, commencing with an unnumbered "Review", in which Millson and Bowden stated that "the Caucus has been established by Right-wing activists within the Conservative Party in order to disseminate information, ideology and intellectual opinion within and beyond the party". In fact the RCC was not part of the Conservative Party and Bowden was not even a party member. Issue number 1 gave a very full description of the RCC's ideals, which included "a totalitarian onslaught of mind-numbing extremity against Political Correctness". Issue no.2 carried an article entitled "Our type of Toryism" which argued that there was a growing consciousness that Britain's heritage and traditions were facing extinction. It attacked "de-industrialisation, the cult of utilitarianism, widespread public apathy, mass-immigration from the Third World, the indifference of influential politicians, churchman and literati and the censorship of ideas", adding that "in combination they are acting against the long-term interests of our country. Issue number 3 was entirely devoted to the continuing power struggle within the Monday Club following Gregory Lauder-Frost's resignation at the end of May 1992. Issue no.4 (Summer-Autumn 1994) had two major treatises on "Ethnic Cleansing in Britain", and "The Case for Right-Wing European Union".

The Winter 1994-5 (and last issue, No.5) edition was headlined "Conference Special" and asked "what is the future for the Conservative party - a fascist Party for the 21st century, or a watered-down version of the Liberal-Democrats?"

These journals can now be found/read in the archives section of the Traditional Britain Group website.

Disbanded

Lacking a substantive membership base, the group disbanded after Millson and Bowden parted company at the end of 1994. The Revolutionary Conservative Caucus had nevertheless "managed to redraw a right-wing fascist agenda" and was said to have played a crucial part towards introducing philosophical discussion into "far-right" politics in Britain and was an influence on the establishment of the magazine Right Now! which was edited, firstly, by Michael Harrison, and thereafter by Derek Turner. Millson now writes widely on less political cultural issues in This England, the Quarterly Review and for the on-line journal and blog of the Traditional Britain Group.